Call Number:

C1357

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Baldwin Family Gold Rush Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1849-1852 (bulk) and 1809-1852 (inclusive)

Creator:

Baldwin family

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century and Diaries -- 1849-1852.

Abstract:

Consists for the most part of California "Gold Rush" papers (1849-1852) of several members of the Baldwin family of Utica, N.Y. Images of this collection are available online at Digital PUL.

The Baldwin family of these papers consists of Edward and Anna L. Baldwin and the three youngest of their nine children: Ebenezer E., Edward Jr., and James W., the youngest.

The collection consists for the most part of California "Gold Rush" papers (1849-1852) of several members of the Baldwin family of Utica, N.Y. There are four journals (1849-1852), as well as miscellaneous correspondence and documents (1845-1851), of James Baldwin, who sailed to California from New York aboard the packet ship George Washington in February 1849; one notebook on minerals and ores of Edward Baldwin, Jr. (of "Middle Chute, Gallatin Valley, N.T."); an 1809 citizenship document of Edward Baldwin (father); and miscellaneous correspondence and documents (1850) of Ebenezer Baldwin, who sailed for San Francisco from New York aboard the Saratoga in February 1850 and later died in California. James's journals begin with him aboard ship about to round Cape Horn, and follow his arrival in San Franciso and subsequent difficult life as a "Forty-Niner" prospecting in the gold regions: he learns that "everything that shines in California is not gold."